CUMBER ON MT. COOK

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29722, 16 January 1962, Page 12

CUMBER ON MT. COOK

Two Ascents In Week

Mount Cook was twice climbed last week by Mr K. Curry, of Christchurch. He is the only climber besides Hermitage guides to claim the distinction of two ascents in one week.

Mr Curry's first climb was with Mr A. Gough, of Christchurch. They took 14 hours to reach the summit from the Haast hut. in the Tasman valley. He made bis second ascent six days later with Mr C. Feron. also of Christchurch. Better snow conditions were encountered, and the men reached the summit seven hours after leaving the Haaet hut. From the summit Messrs Curry and Feron continued along the summit ridge to the middle and low peaks and completed t.he grand traverse. This was the third such traverse this season, and the fifth since that made by Miss S. Du Faur with Messrs D. Thompson and P. Graham as guides in 1913.

Severe ice conditions were encountered by the two climbers on their descent from the low peak to the Hooker valley, and darkness overtook them in the northwest couloir at 10.000 ft. They spent an uncomfortable night crouching on a snow platform below a large sheltering rock, while pieces of rock and ice showered around them from above.

At dawn the next day the men moved down to the Empress hut, in the Hooker valley, where they spent the next two days sitting out a storm and living on food left in the hut. The entire climb from the Haast hut to the Empress hut took 31 hours, and the climbers were two days overdue when they made radio contact with the Hermitage from the Gardner hut.